Tim 39
23rd October 2007, 17:02
Tims King of Ruapuna round 2
When I got to Ruapuna the weather was terrible, cold windy and raining. I got all the sign in and scruitineering over with and got my bike ready to go.
By the time we had riders briefing the weather was starting to clear and it was still quite windy, which meant that if it cleared the track would dry quickly. By the time our practice session came around the track was dry and the sun was out, practice was quite uneventful so time to get ready for race one.
For some unknown reason I was put on the second row of the grid (was meant to be on pole), but it wouldn’t have realy mattered with the rubbish start I got anyway. I think I was the last 125 coming up to the first corner, but I started picking my way through them quite quickly. By the time I got round to the infield sweeper I was up to third but Gregor and Kenneth were quite a long way ahead. I made a lot of mistakes in the first few laps of the race which let the two at the front get even further ahead. I had a look behind me and saw clear track, looked in front… more clear track… oh well a boring race then. I took the opportunity to try a few new things to find out what worked better. I found a couple of things that seemed to work better and plenty that didn’t realy work at all, so I seemed to be generally doing the right thing. I was having problems with my forks bottoming out as I start riding faster, so I’d tackle that problem when I got in. No surprise really, I finished in third.
After my suspension adjustments it was time for race two. I got a much better start off the second row of the grid and was 5th into the first corner and third coming out of the first corner. Gregor and Kenneth weren’t near as far ahead this time so the chase was on, I was slowly gaining on them. Finally I was up with them, right behind Gregor but he lost his front end tipping into the left approaching the dipper. I modified my line slightly so I could get safely past and slowed down a bit. By the time I got back up to speed Kenneth was a wee way ahead, I was closing the gap again but my exhaust broke so I didn’t quite have the top end power I needed to stay with him. I ended up finishing a lonely second place with lots of spare track behind again.
I fitted my spare exhaust and it was time for race 3. The wind had changed form a head wind down the straight to a cross wind. There was no Kenneth in this race so I thought it was only fair that I took his grid position on the front row. I got a good start and was right behind Gregor, I tagged on behind him for a lap but he outbraked me by a lot at the end of the straight and pulled a big gap. I was having a lot of trouble braking there in the wind so I thought I had better not push it too hard. I could hold the gap between us but was having trouble in a few more places in the wind also. We went down the straight, Gregor was approximately 1-200 metres ahead of me and braking for the corner at the end I saw a big cloud of dust and Gregor was down again. This spelt the end to any sort of competition for the rest of the race, Ashley was a long way behind so I happily finished first.
All in all a good days racing and I achieved quite a bit with bike setup and new tricks here and there.
I would like to thank all of those awesome people who help me out and these in particular…
The Otago Motorcycle Club – For their on going support
Sportzfotoz – For the very good action photos with this report, check out their website www.sportzfotoz.co.nz
When I got to Ruapuna the weather was terrible, cold windy and raining. I got all the sign in and scruitineering over with and got my bike ready to go.
By the time we had riders briefing the weather was starting to clear and it was still quite windy, which meant that if it cleared the track would dry quickly. By the time our practice session came around the track was dry and the sun was out, practice was quite uneventful so time to get ready for race one.
For some unknown reason I was put on the second row of the grid (was meant to be on pole), but it wouldn’t have realy mattered with the rubbish start I got anyway. I think I was the last 125 coming up to the first corner, but I started picking my way through them quite quickly. By the time I got round to the infield sweeper I was up to third but Gregor and Kenneth were quite a long way ahead. I made a lot of mistakes in the first few laps of the race which let the two at the front get even further ahead. I had a look behind me and saw clear track, looked in front… more clear track… oh well a boring race then. I took the opportunity to try a few new things to find out what worked better. I found a couple of things that seemed to work better and plenty that didn’t realy work at all, so I seemed to be generally doing the right thing. I was having problems with my forks bottoming out as I start riding faster, so I’d tackle that problem when I got in. No surprise really, I finished in third.
After my suspension adjustments it was time for race two. I got a much better start off the second row of the grid and was 5th into the first corner and third coming out of the first corner. Gregor and Kenneth weren’t near as far ahead this time so the chase was on, I was slowly gaining on them. Finally I was up with them, right behind Gregor but he lost his front end tipping into the left approaching the dipper. I modified my line slightly so I could get safely past and slowed down a bit. By the time I got back up to speed Kenneth was a wee way ahead, I was closing the gap again but my exhaust broke so I didn’t quite have the top end power I needed to stay with him. I ended up finishing a lonely second place with lots of spare track behind again.
I fitted my spare exhaust and it was time for race 3. The wind had changed form a head wind down the straight to a cross wind. There was no Kenneth in this race so I thought it was only fair that I took his grid position on the front row. I got a good start and was right behind Gregor, I tagged on behind him for a lap but he outbraked me by a lot at the end of the straight and pulled a big gap. I was having a lot of trouble braking there in the wind so I thought I had better not push it too hard. I could hold the gap between us but was having trouble in a few more places in the wind also. We went down the straight, Gregor was approximately 1-200 metres ahead of me and braking for the corner at the end I saw a big cloud of dust and Gregor was down again. This spelt the end to any sort of competition for the rest of the race, Ashley was a long way behind so I happily finished first.
All in all a good days racing and I achieved quite a bit with bike setup and new tricks here and there.
I would like to thank all of those awesome people who help me out and these in particular…
The Otago Motorcycle Club – For their on going support
Sportzfotoz – For the very good action photos with this report, check out their website www.sportzfotoz.co.nz